The Minnesota Twins and Target Field food service partner Delaware North Sportservice today announced a partnership with an acclaimed contemporary French restaurant in downtown Minneapolis to serve its signature burger at Target Field.

Vincent - A Restaurant, 1100 Nicollet Ave., developed and has been serving the gourmet Vincent Burger for several years. It is made with Angus beef and stuffed with braised short rib and smoked gouda cheese.

The Vincent burger was named the best burger in Minnesota in 2009 by Food Network Magazine, which selected the ultimate burger from each of the 50 states. CityPages.com also called it the best gourmet burger in Minneapolis in 2007.

The restaurant and its owner, Chef Vincent Francoual, a native of France, have also garnered numerous culinary awards. Since opening in 2001, the restaurant has been listed in Gourmet magazine's "Guide to America's Best Restaurants" and received Wine Spectator's award of excellence four times. Locally, the restaurant has won numerous reader polls as the Twin Cities' best French eatery.

Sportservice will serve the Vincent burger at all six Hennepin Grille concessions stands throughout Target Field.

"With the mouth-watering Vincent Burger, our food lineup at Target Field just keeps getting better and better," said Twins President Dave St. Peter. "It's another local culinary standout, developed by a Minneapolis chef that our fans can taste as part of the experience at our games."

Francoual, a frequent guest instructor and lecturer on culinary trends and sustainable cooking, is a 2010 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef in the Midwest.

"As a chef who is passionate about exploring and expanding the culinary landscape, I am very pleased to be a part of what the Twins are doing to be a leader in bringing new tastes to baseball," Francoual said. "I love cooking traditional French dishes but really enjoy the innovation that American cuisine celebrates - and nothing is more American than baseball."

Francoual has worked closely with the Twins and Sportservice Executive Chef Pastor Jimenez to recreate the Vincent Burger at Target Field.
"We are going to have several burgers at Target Field, but this will be the one every fan is going to want to have," Jimenez said. "Chef Vincent is very talented and focused on creating new and delicious flavors.

About Vincent - A Restaurant
Vincent - A Restaurant, 1100 Nicollet Ave. at the Nicollet Mall, serves French cuisine with a contemporary American influence. The restaurant was opened in 2001 by Chef Vincent Francoual, a native of Puy-L'Eveque, France, who began attending culinary school at age 15. In Europe he gained experience working at hotels and restaurants in Great Britain, France and Italy, where he worked for Giorgio Armani in Florence. After coming to the United States, Francoual's culinary career took off in New York City, where he worked as a chef at two acclaimed restaurants, Le Bernadin and Lespinasse. He move d to Minneapolis in 1997, and was executive chef at Café Un, Deux, Trois, before starting his own private dining company and teaching culinary classes at Art Institutes International Minnesota. He then opened Vincent - A Restaurant, which has garnered numerous awards over the last decade.

About Delaware North Companies Sportservice
Delaware North Companies Sportservice is one of the nation's leading food, beverage and retail management companies, providing concessions, gourmet catering and fine dining operations at more than 50 professional sporting venues, entertainment complexes and convention centers across the United States and Canada. Sportservice has served an impressive collection of sporting events and clients, including the World Series, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball's All-Star Games, Stanley Cup Championships and the Olympic Games.

For more than 90 years, Sportservice has demonstrated that it knows what it takes to effectively develop, operate and manage multi-faceted kitchens, restaurants, suites, fine dining and retail facilities in order to meet the changing demands of today's fans. From introducing new healthy, organic food selections and creative cuisine for twists on the traditional fare, Sportservice continues to innovate and enhance the fan experience.